It was foondit in 1667 on the left bank o the Kamyshinka River. In 1710, aw o its inhabitants wur relocatit tae the fortress o Dmitriyevsk (Дмитриевск) on the opposite bank o the river. In 1780, the name wis chyngit tae Kamyshin an it wis grantit toun status. In the 19t century, Kamyshin turned intae a merchant ceety wi sawmills an windmills. It wis umwhile famous for its watermelon trade.

Near Kamyshin, the Volga is quite close—17 kilometers (11 mi)—to the upper reaches of the Ilovlya River, the tributary of the Don. The distance between the sources of the Kamyshinka River, the tributary of the Volga, and the Ilovlya is only a little more than 4 kilometers (2.5 mi). In this place in ancient times there existed a portage ("volok") many times used by the troops invading the land of the Khazars, and moving from the Don basin to the Volga. In the 16th century, the Turkish SultanSelim II attempted to build a canal here.[10] A similar effort was later made by Peter the Great who built the fort, originally named Petrovsk, to protect workmen during the (unfinished) construction of the canal.